— by RON WILKINSON — Natalie Dormer (“Game of Thrones,” “The Tudors” TV series) does most of the heavy lifting as Sara. In the opening scenes Sara’s sister Jess is having a tough time in a remote area of Japan’s forest at the base of Mt. Fuji. This is not hard to believe since the […][...]
Review: Anomalisa
— by RON WILKINSON — Although the medium will surprise many viewers, its use, combined with the presence of only three voices, focuses the viewer on the message. The exaggerated mechanical motion of the stop action accentuates the stultified gear train that Stone goes through during most of the 24 hours of the story. When […][...]
Review: Dreams Rewired
— by RON WILKINSON — It is entirely possible that writer/directors Manu Luksch, Martin Reinhart and Thomas Tode (Martin Reinhart is also credited as writer) did not know what they were getting into when they embarked upon this archival journey into the technical advances that have become life. This collection of hundreds, if not thousands, […][...]
Review: The Black Panthers …
— by RON WILKINSON — Directed, written and produced by Stanley Nelson, this riveting documentary takes the viewer inside the closed doors of the Panthers as well as the FBI and local law enforcement agencies. This is important because the message of the film is as much about the misuse of police power as it […][...]
Review: A Walk in the Woods
— by RON WILKINSON — “A Walk in the Woods,” Ken Kwapis’ peon to growing old gracefully, features Robert Redford and Nick Nolte as the unlikeliest pair ever to walk the Appalachian Trail. Based on the book by travel raconteur Bill Bryson (with a screenplay by Rick Kerb and Bill Holderman), this may be the […][...]
Review: Learning to Drive
— by RON WILKINSON — “Learning to Drive,” director Isabel Coixet’s meet-cute vehicle for Ben Kingsley and Patricia Clarkson, turns out to be a compact instead of a full-sized car. The screenplay by Sarah Kernochan and Katha Pollitt walks rather than runs through the whirlwind behind the wheel romance. A pleasant surprise, the ending rises […][...]
Review: Goodnight Mommy
— by RON WILKINSON — Co-writers/directors Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala put together a traditional but high quality horror flick in “Goodnight Mommy,” a tale of lethal mother-son conflict. A mostly silent soundtrack lets the great acting and screenplay tell the story. This puts pressure on the actors, especially the young ones, but they come […][...]
Review: The Visit
— by RON WILKINSON — M. Night Shyamalan unleashes another one on a gleeful public with this psycho-horror movie about a suitably dysfunctional family. In “The Visit,” Becca and Tyler (Olivia DeJonge and Ed Oxenbould) traipse off into rural Pennsylvania to visit Nana and Pop Pop (Deanna Dunagan and Peter McRobbie) on their farm. The […][...]
Review: The Fool (aka Durak)
— by RON WILKINSON — A multiple prize-winner at the 2014 Locarno Film Festival, Yury Bykov’s movie is a profound tragedy. Opening with a no-holds-barred look inside a dilapidated Russian state-owned apartment building that houses the poor, the desperate and the despaired in bestial conditions. Everything in the building is failing, the electricity, water, sanitary […][...]
Review: Queen of Earth
— by RON WILKINSON — Writer/director Alex Ross Perry’s urban pot-boiler “Queen of Earth” falls well short of expectations. A high bar was set by avid Elisabeth Moss fans who came to adore her as she stole the show in the blockbuster “Mad Men” TV series. Toward the end of the series, she capped that […][...]